For cinephiles and filmmakers, screenplay, one of the foundations of filmmaking, is an essential element to study and soak in to learn the structured backbone of films. While home video releases and streaming platforms offer subtitles for accessibility, which can be a tool to understand dialogue, they understandably don’t encapsulate the full breadth of a screenplay. But with the launch of this new Google Chrome browser extension, you can now watch your favorite films on Netflix, side-by-side with its script.
The third-party ScreenplaySubs function, which is currently only usable on fewer films, was created by user Egan Bisma. It is a nifty extension for Chrome and Firefox, which a viewer can install, then head here for a list of films to watch on Netflix to toggle the screenplay on and off for select movies.
“ScreenplaySubs is a self-funded app purely driven by the goal to make it easier to appreciate the hard work and passion [the] Filmmakers put to manifest each line from screenplay into reality,” Bisma explained in the description.
As Bisma states, you will learn far more about the respective films through this experience, including:
- When a dialogue is improvised/reworded.
- When a scene is omitted or included in production/post.
- What action is trying to emphasize on.
- When the order between the two scenes is switched.
- In general, how an action, dialogue, or scene heading is translated to screen.
The browser extension is currently available for 13 films — The Social Network, Lady Bird, The Dark Knight, Hot Fuzz, Inception, Marriage Story, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, Steve Jobs, Inglorious Basterds, The Irishman, Zodiac, and Silver Linings Playbook — with more batch of films to be added every week.
Watch a demo below for The Social Network to know how it looks and works on your screen:
How To Set This Up?
1. Install the browser extension in Chrome or Firefox.
2. Check out the movie catalog for movies to watch, and press “Watch”.
3. You’ll be redirected to Netflix and can start watching the movie with a screenplay by pressing the toggle button at the top right corner.
Sign up here to get updated on the new films added by the screenplaysubs. Visit ScreenplaySubs to access the complete and updated list of films on Netflix with the available screenplay.
You can watch and support some local films on MOOV, Cinema Centenario’s video on-demand online channel.
